Quick Question

I recently adopted two baby ball pythons from a woman that was having a baby and could no longer take care of them. She kept them both together in a 20L with no problems. I was just wondering is that a good idea or should i separate them. These are the my first snakes.

My setup has the following:
UTH for the warm belly side,
Small water dish on the hot side,
Hide on the warm side,
Large water dish on the cool side,
Day Heat lamp
Blue Night Lamp
Stick on thermometer and hydrometer stuck on in the middle of the tank about 3/4 way to the top.

Im going to go to walmart tonight after work and get a digital thermometer to put under the substrate on the warm side so i can get a accurate reading of the temps on that side. I'm also going to grab half a yard of heavy vinyl to cover the mesh on top to try and raise the humidity in the tank as its steady at about 30-35% right now. What do you guys think of my setup so far and about separating them.


Almost forgot she said they are male and female.

Although from the completeness of the setup it sounds like they were well-loved, it's not a good idea to keep them together. They should each have their own cage.

Additionally, a UTH without a thermostat or rheostat is a tragedy waiting to happen--these devices get too hot, and must be controlled to regulate the temperature. The temperature on the surface of the basking area should be 90F.

There should be a hide on each side of the cage.

She didnt include the setup with the snakes, I put it together with supplies bought at the local petco. im gonna be ordering a Repti Temperature Rheostat tonight when i get home from work. What size tanks should these guys be put in to give them correct size and security, and also is it safe to keep them together for now while i get the money together to buy 2 setups?


http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod.../2/product.web
that is the rheostat that i was looking at buying. Will that one work sufficiently?

I would say a 20 long for them each will do...if they are still small u can prob get away with a 10 gallon but eventually they will out grow it.

Unless u go the tub route..in which i'm not too sure what size would suffice.

as far as I can tell just about all rheostats are the same. If you're close to a lowes, home depot, or similar store they should carry light dimmer rheostats. I picked mine up for just over $10. It's not as pretty as the repti temp rheostat but it works just fine.

You can put one into a tub set up to save money until you can have two full elaborate set-ups. A tub is also very easy to keep humidty up properly in. That way you can seperate them right away, while not having to buy a whole new set-up.
Walmart sells a nice little temp/humidty sensor for about $14. It's in the indoor/outdoor section with the outdoor thermometers.
Good luck, and congrats on your new pets.

I would go with a tub or another 20 gallon. Even a twenty gallon would be small within two years. I would not recomend a 10 gallon. IMO

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wolfy-hound

You can put one into a tub set up to save money until you can have two full elaborate set-ups. A tub is also very easy to keep humidty up properly in. That way you can seperate them right away, while not having to buy a whole new set-up.
Walmart sells a nice little temp/humidty sensor for about $14. It's in the indoor/outdoor section with the outdoor thermometers.
Good luck, and congrats on your new pets.

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what size tub would i need to get for one of these guys, and should i just get another uth designed for a 10-20gallon tank?

I would take the easy route and get a couple tubs. My babies are in shoe box tubs, 6 qt I believe. Once they hit 400 grams bump them up to the next size tub, a sweater tub. 12 qt I think :confused: Then after that you can decide if you want to keep doing the tub thing or switch them to tanks. If your anything like me you'll be wanting to go with the tub route because the number of snakes you have now is never enough :D